At present, the preparation of liquid foodstuffs, used as aperitifs or desserts and constituted by several components of different densities, is effected by directly pouring the various components into a glass provided for this purpose. Generally, the components then mix more or less intimately before being served. This mixture, which should be effected before consumption, has, however, the drawback of rather random presentation of the product served, particularly in the case of a mixture of an alcoholic beverage and another beverage, hot or cold, of a very different color.
To obtain an original and attractive presentation of different liquids, according to their color and density, in the same glass, there are especially qualified people in the food field, whose manual skill permits superposing layers of liquids of different color and density thereby to obtain a distinctive presentation of the product served.
However, the use of such personnel is confined to a very small number of establishments because they have to be paid more. Moreover, such a presentation of a liquid of several components is always subject to accidents of handling involving a greater or lesser mixture of the different components and detracting from the desired presentation.
To overcome this drawback, there has been proposed in Belgian Pat. No. 899,988 a device adapted to effect a superposition of liquids of different densities, this device being constituted by a body adapted to be positioned on a glass and provided with a receptacle for receiving a liquid, whose outlet is regulated by means of a sliding valve, said liquid flowing through a floating member in the form of a disc or hemisphere to form successive superposed layers.
However, the device according to this document has difficulties in guiding the floating member because there is a great risk of blocking this latter in the body, particularly following clogging due to the sugar contained in the different liquids used, said sugar accumulating at the level of the guide which is difficult to access for washing.
Moreover, the floating member used has projecting portions which effect mixing of the layers by creation of eddies upon retraction. Still further, this floating member does not permit obtaining laminar flow, this latter being unobtainable moreover along the length of the guide rod, because of variable outflow of the regulated liquid through the sliding vane.
Furthermore, even the concept of a control valve is fraught with further difficulty due to the normal wear of its constituent members, which also has an unfavorable influence on the flow of the liquids, a supplemental difficulty being due to even the mounting of the guide rod of the floating member which can be jarred at any time during regulation of the valve and thus cause eddies which detract from a desirable presentation.